


The Greatest Gift

by LittlebutFiery



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Banter, Christmas, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Gift Exchange, Team as Family, some language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 20:24:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17148512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittlebutFiery/pseuds/LittlebutFiery
Summary: Roy organizes a small Christmas party and gift exchange for Team Mustang, which they use to surprise Roy and Riza with a gift.





	The Greatest Gift

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas to my beautiful "lil sis" areyousanta! She requested Christmas Royai cuddles, and while there's not a ton of them in this, I know she likes Team Mustang too, so I hope you enjoy, love!

Riza sighed happily as she let her hair down, brushing away the tangles from the long day of travel. She took out her earrings, humming as she began to change into her pajamas.

“You sound happy,” Roy called from their room.

Riza smiled. “I am.”

“I haven’t seen you this happy in...a long time,” Roy said, poking his head into the bathroom. He had a warm smile on his face. “It suits you.”

“You’re being a sap,” Riza teased fondly.

“I’m being honest,” Roy insisted. “If this is all it takes to see you smile like this, we’ll go on vacations every month.”

“You know we can’t do that,” Riza shook her head, albeit with a smile. “We could only take this trip because of the boys.”

“Don’t mention them, please,” Roy sighed, rubbing his temples. “For once, I get to spend time with you alone. I just want to focus on us.”

Riza smiled. “That’s fair. We do owe them a thank-you when we’re back, though.”

“Fair enough,” Roy conceded sullenly.

“I can still hardly believe they managed to pull off a surprise like that,” Riza said, recalling the party a week prior, the very thing that had led to them even taking this vacation. “At the party  _ you _ planned, no less.”

This drew a laugh from Roy. “They’re crafty. I’ll give them that.”   
  


“Merry fuckin’ Christmas, guys!” Jean crowed, all but slamming a six-pack of beer down on the table as he walked into Madame Christmas’s near-empty bar. “Best time of the year!”

“Not for us, it ain’t,” Heymans grumbled. “If I have to see you and Catalina making out under the mistletoe any more, I’m burning headquarters down.”

“You, shut up,” Jean scowled, jabbing a finger at his best friend. He sat down between Heymans and Roy, nudging his boss with a cheeky grin. “Thanks for organizing this for us, boss. I love a good Christmas party.”

“I’m not sure it’s quite a party,” Roy chuckled, taking a sip from his bourbon. “Just a gathering of friends.”

“That’s a party to me,” Jean shrugged, cracking open one of the beers he’d brought. “Go for it, guys, I brought one for each of us.”

The little group of six sat and talked a while, drinking and laughing with each other, in a way they hadn’t been able to for months. Eventually, though, Riza glanced outside, saw how dark it was, and said quietly, “I...should get going home soon. I need to feed Hayate. Let’s do our gift exchange, shall we?”

“Yeah!” Kain agreed, a big smile on his face. The others nodded agreement, so Riza went on, “Who wants to go first?”

“I’ll do the honors,” Jean proclaimed, digging a very long, thin box from their haphazard pile of presents. He handed it to Roy with mock solemnity, stifling a giggle as he said, “Merry Christmas, boss.”

“Did you get him a sword?” Vato asked, an incredulous eyebrow raised at the odd shape of the gift. Heymans and Kain snickered in agreement.

Roy, however, was gracious as he took the gift from Jean and began to open it. It took him a moment to get the over-taped paper off the box, and another moment before he could pry the box open, before his anticipatory grin immediately faded into a scowl.

“An umbrella.”

Jean couldn’t stifle the laughter any longer, barely able to manage, “You said you were getting tired of being told you’re useless when wet, so…”

“So you got me...an umbrella,” Roy sighed.

“Solves the problem, don’t it?” Jean grinned.

Despite himself, Roy managed a wry smile. “I suppose it does. Thank you, Havoc.”

“No problem, chief,” Jean chuckled. “Merry Christmas.”

“I guess that makes it my turn,” Roy said. He scooped up a small present and set it in front of Heymans. “Merry Christmas, Heymans.”

The stocky man cocked his head, regarding the box oddly. “Who wrapped this? Elicia?”

Roy’s cheeks turned very red as he grumbled, “I did. Don’t complain and just open it.”

“Shit, boss. This paper probably costs more than my suit, and you still managed to make it look like ass. Nice work,” Heymans chuckled as he obediently peeled the crumpled paper from the box.

Any retorts or witty comments abandoned Heymans as he caught a glimpse of what his present was. He quickly tore the rest of the paper away, revealing the characteristic crimson-and-gold box of a bottle of cognac.

“Is...this Donnadieu?” Heymans all but squeaked, eyes wide as he stared at the box.

Roy nodded with a satisfied smile. “I know you have good taste in your liquor, so I thought you’d appreciate it.”

“Jeez...thanks, chief,” Heymans managed, still clearly awed by receiving such an expensive gift.

He admired the box a moment longer before a mischievous grin spread across his face. “Well, guess it’s my turn, then.”

Heymans scooped up a small box from the pile, tossing it at Jean. “Merry Christmas, smokestack.”

Jean rolled his eyes as he quickly tore open the wrapping paper and pulled his gift from the box. “The hell? A scarf? Heymans, I don’t  _ wear _ scarves.”

“I didn’t say it was for you, did I?” Heymans retorted.

“Becks doesn’t wear them either,” Jean scowled. “She hates having stuff around her neck like that.”

“Ain’t for her neck, bud. I’m gettin’ real tired of hearing her screeching whenever you two get it on. Thought this might help,” Heymans chuckled.

“You motherfucker! I don’t say shit when you get laid!”

“I don’t bring anybody by that often, and nobody I fuck sounds like they’re being murdered!” Heymans argued.

“Anyway,” Riza cleared her throat pointedly. “Kain, this is for you. Merry Christmas.”

Riza’s gift to Kain was by far the largest and most perfectly wrapped. Even the paper was a precise match to its recipient’s tastes - the paper was covered with images of puppies in Santa hats, frolicking in the snow.

“Thanks,” Kain managed, his voice soft and awed.

He inspected the box a moment, trying to figure out how to open it without ruining the immaculate wrapping job, before he sighed and tore into it.

“Hey, look, it’s a box,” Heymans chuckled. “Just what you asked for.”

“You’re not fucking funny,” Jean snapped, a sour look on his face as he pouted from Heymans’ earlier comments.

Kain carefully opened the box, revealing a very old-looking electronic. He gasped in shock, his cheeks flushing and eyes going wide, as he managed, “Is...this…?”

Riza nodded, a smile on her face. “You said you were looking for the old Mark 3 radio model for your collection, and I happened to find this at an antique store. I thought you’d like it.”

“I love it!” Kain cried, nearly leaping across the table in his eagerness to hug Riza. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is amazing! It’s the last one I needed and I now I have a full collection and...and this is perfect! It’s in working order and everything!”

He continued to admire the gift until Roy said lightly, “Fuery, don’t forget you have a gift to give, too.”

“O-oh, right!” Kain nodded. He picked up the larger of the two remaining packages, setting it down in front of Vato. It was a perfectly square box, and Kain had clearly put a valiant effort into the wrapping of it - it was  _ almost _ as perfect as Riza’s. “Merry Christmas, Vato!”

Vato opened it slowly, pulling apart the tape rather than ripping up the paper. It took him a moment to realize what his gift was, but he turned rather pink himself as he recognized it. “Thank you, Kain.”

“C’mon, professor, spill. What is it?” Jean teased.

“Just some books,” Vato waved him off.

Heymans snatched the box set of books from Vato, squinting at the title. “ _ Drake Graves’ Thrilling Adventures _ ? Aren’t those the shitty detective novels?”

“They’re n-not shitty!” Vato squeaked, very red indeed. “I...like them.”

“Hey, we all like our own things,” Jean shrugged. “I mean, Heymans likes being  _ a jackass _ , so liking some crappy books isn’t the worst.”

Heymans glared at Jean, who glowered right back. Vato reclaimed his books before picking up the final present, placing it in front of Riza and saying, “Merry Christmas, lieutenant.”

“Merry Christmas, Vato,” Riza smiled back, gently opening her gift.

Immediately a broad smile graced her face, one so big the corners of her eyes crinkled. “Thank you. I love it!”

“What is it?” Roy asked, curious.

Riza held it up, still smiling. “A coat for Hayate! He gets cold on our walks this time of year, so this is perfect for him! And look, it looks like my uniform!”

The others laughed. Roy grinned, “It’s perfect! We can get him the proper rank and everything.”

Jean began to tease Kain about how the dog outranked him, so Riza began to quietly pack up her things. Roy noticed this, clearing his throat and saying, “Well, boys, it’s been fun, but the lieutenant needs to get home, and I promised I’d drive her.”

“Wait, we’re not done, though,” Kain shook his head.

Roy glanced at Riza, who looked as puzzled as he felt. “What do you mean? We ate and exchanged gifts. I didn’t realize we had anything else on the agenda.”

“There’s one more gift, boss,” Jean said. He leaned back in his chair, looking mighty content with himself.

Riza’s eyes flickered from face to face as she mentally tallied the gifts given. “No, each of us received something.”

“Well, the four of us got one extra thing for you,” Heymans said.

“Which one of us?” Roy asked.

“Both of you,” Vato clarified.

“I...don’t understand,” Riza said.

Heymans dug in his vest pocket for a moment before handing some slips of paper to Roy, who quickly scanned them. “Round-trip train tickets from here to Cameron? For two?”

“Look, boss, you two can pretend you’re not a thing all you want, but you totally are,” Jean began to explain. “Cameron’s where I’m from. Ma and Pops have a little bed and breakfast not too far from our store. We got you two a week there. You’ve got the whole place to yourselves.”

“We can’t possibly…” Riza argued, cheeks flushed.

“We took care of it,” Kain added. “Officially, you’re going there on business for Fuhrer Grumman. We have a letter signed by him, and everything. You won’t even have to take leave.”

“Unofficially, we thought you both deserved some time together, away from all of this,” Vato nodded. “No one will be the wiser.”

“We’ll hold down the fort just fine until you get back,” Heymans said. “You won’t have to worry about nothing.”

Roy felt his heart swell with affection for his motley little team. “I...don’t know what to say, men. Thank you.”

“A day off once in a while would be nice,” Heymans chuckled.

Vato nudged him. “You don’t need to say anything. We thought you deserved this.”

“Thank you,” Riza managed, trying very hard to blink back tears.

“Don’t get all misty-eyed on us, Hawkeye,” Jean teased. “I think the Colonel said he wanted to get you home, and you two have a lot of packing to do for your trip. You oughta go get some rest.”

Riza nodded, picking up her gift and letting Roy gently guide her out to his car; she still looked amazed and emotional as they left.

Jean leaned back in his chair, snatching up the remnants of Roy’s bourbon and grinning like the cat that ate the canary. “Damn, guys, we’re good.” 

“I hope they tell us all about their trip,” Kain commented softly.

“Oh, we’ll get the details out of them, one way or another,” Heymans chuckled.   
  


Roy was in the bed reading when Riza emerged from the bathroom in her pajamas, barefoot and yawning. He looked up and smiled. “Ready for bed, love?”

Riza nodded. “I...can still hardly believe we have a whole week together.”

“Me too,” Roy said. He patted the bed next to him, and Riza padded over, sliding under the covers beside him. “We’ll have to make it last, hmm?”

“And then it’ll be back to normal,” Riza sighed. “Back to pretending nothing is out of the ordinary.”

“Something tells me that won’t be for much longer,” Roy assured her with another smile. He put his arms around her, pulling Riza close to him.

She snuggled into him, her back to his stomach, content to simply lay in his warm, loving embrace. Riza murmured, “I love you, Roy.”

Roy pressed a soft kiss to her neck, then her cheek, before whispering back, “I love you too, my angel.”

Jean’s parents had given the couple a long list of things to see and do in Cameron, but Riza wasn’t sure how much she cared to do any of them. She was perfectly happy to spend all her time at Roy’s side, in his arms.

This little getaway, their own personal Christmas miracle, wouldn’t last forever, and sooner or later they would have to go back to pretending. But for now, for this one precious week, she was his lover, not his adjutant, and it was exhilarating.

Of all the things she had ever wanted for Christmas, there was none she wanted more - or expected less - than this.

As Riza drifted to sleep, Roy pressing soft kisses to her neck, she thought that perhaps he had been right.

Perhaps happiness, the kind only Christmas could bring, did indeed suit her.


End file.
